particle physics Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...

, the Goldberger–Wise mechanism is a popular mechanism that determines the size of the fifth dimension in

Randall–Sundrum model In physics, Randall–Sundrum models (also called 5-dimensional warped geometry theory) are models that describe the world in terms of a warped-geometry higher-dimensional universe, or more concretely as a 5-dimensional anti-de Sitter space whe ...

s. The mechanism uses a scalar field that propagates throughout the five-dimensional bulk. On each of the branes that end the fifth dimension (frequently referred to as the Planck brane and TeV brane, respectively) there is a potential for this scalar field. The minima for the potentials on the Planck brane and TeV brane are different and causes the vacuum expectation value of the scalar field to change throughout the fifth dimension. This configuration generates a potential for the radion causing it to have a vacuum expectation value and a mass. With reasonable values for the scalar potential, the size of the extra dimension is large enough to solve the

hierarchy problem In theoretical physics, the hierarchy problem is the problem concerning the large discrepancy between aspects of the weak force and gravity. There is no scientific consensus on why, for example, the weak force is 1024 times stronger than gravit ...

References

Physics beyond the Standard Model {{particle-stub